Tea bag



Jan. 12, 1943. L, '8, ATON 2,307,998

TEA BAG 2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed April 29, 1959 INVENTOR 32 iuuuw W. 5173 ATTOR E'Y Patented Jan. 12, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TEA BAG Application April 29, 1939, Serial No. 270,836

3 Claims.

specified whose construction lends itself particularly to the manufacture of the bag out of the socalled high wet. strength filter papers now upon the market.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved method of making the present tea bag in a simple and economical manner.

With these general objects in view and such others as may hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the tea bag and in the method of making the same hereinafter described and particularly defined in the claims at the end of this specification.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a sheet of material from which the present bag may beproduced; Figs. 2 and 3 are front and side elevations respectively of a forming block about which the present bag is preferably formed and through which a charge of the commodity may be introduced into the bag; Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7 are perspective views of the different steps preferably followed in forming the bag about the forming block; Fig. 8 is a plan view of the bag on the forming block showing the block in cross-section; Fig. 9 is a side view of the bag as produced on the present forming block; Figs. 10 and 11 are side views of a bag embodying the present top fold; Fig. 12 is an end view of the completed bag showing the top fold secured by a staple and the usual tag attached to the bag by a string; Fig. 13 is a perspective View of the completed bag shown in Fig. 12; Fig. 14 is a perspective view of a modified form of means for securing the top fold and attaching a tag; Fig, 15 is an enlarged detail view in perspective, of the securing means shown in Fig. 14; Fig. 16 is a sectional view of a modified form of securing means, and Fig. 17 is a modified form of top closure for the bag produced by stitching and without folding down the top.

In general, the preesnt invention contemplates a construction of tea bag which is designed to enable a plurality of the bags to be conveniently packed to occupy a minimum space; which is capable of accommodating the expanding tea leaves during the use of the bag; which is of a highly attractive appearance contributing to the sales appeal and commercial value of the bag and also which lends itself particularly to the practical manufacture of the bag out of the so-called high wet strength filter papers now upon the market.

To these ends the invention contemplates a tea bag formed of a single sheet or blank of the bag forming material and preferably of any of the soft porous filter papers possessing high wet strength which are now upon the market. The blank of paper or similar material is folded to provide an elongated narrow bottom portion of the bag, two relatively Wide side Walls of the bag and two relatively narrow end walls of the bag. The corner forming flaps connecting the side and end Walls of the bag are folded in triangular shape and in overlapping relation upon and at the upper portion of the side Walls of the bag so that the upper mouth portion of the bag is provided with a relatively large number of plies or thicknesses of paper and provision is made for fastening the usual handle comprising a flexible cord and a tag to the multi-ply mouth of the bag, after the usual charge of tea has been introduced therein. The narrow end Walls of the bag are folded inwardly and contribute in imparting a neat appearance to the bag and in enabling the desired expansion of the bag to take place during brewing of the tea While, at the same time, enabling the two side walls of the bag to be pressed into close relationship to thereby permit a large number of the bags to be conveniently packed in minimum space. The end walls, bottom and the exposed portions of the side Walls below the overlapping triangular flaps afford opportunity for most efficient extraction of the tea liquor through the single thickness of paper of which these parts are formed.

Referring now to the drawings, the present tea bag is formed from asingle sheet or blank In of bag forming material preferably comprising a high wet strength filter paper obtainable upon the market. The blank is folded to form. an elongated narrow bottom portion and relatively wide side walls 26, 28 and relatively narrow end Walls 38, 32. In practice the folding operations may be performed by wrapping the blank about a hollow rectangular forming block It to form the bottom, sides and ends of the bag, and to provide triangular shaped corner flaps or wings 34 which are folded over in overlapping relation against the side walls 2%, 28, as clearly shown in Figs. 6 and '7. The forming block is preferably tapered toward the bottom I! thereof along two of its sides [8, 20 as shown in Fig, 2.

During the folding operation, the end walls 30, 32 are tucked into V-grooves 22, 24, formed on the ends of the forming block. The forming block i2 is then withdrawn and during this operation, a charge of the commodity, such as tea or coffee, may be deposited into the bag through the opening 36 provided in the block and after withdrawal of the latter, the top edges of the bag are brought together. Since the tapered form of the block causes the wings or flaps 34 of the bag to be folded in a manner such as to dispose the upper edges at a slight angle, the top of the bag is preferably trimmed along a line indicated at 38 in Fig. 9. It will be understood that in some instances the trimming operation may be dispensed with i. e., the blank may be formed in such a shape as to cause the top edges of the bag after being folded to assume a position substantially parallel to the bottom of the bag. After the bag has thus been formed and the tea or other commodity introduced therein, the mouth may be closed in various ways.

In one embodiment of the invention, the mouth of the bag is closed with the top corners All, 42 preferably folded in first, see Fig. and thereafter the top of the bag folded over upon the top corners to produce the top fold 34 illustrated in Fig. 11. The folded mouth portion of the bag may be secured in any usual or preferred manner and the usual string and tag attached and, as shown in Figs. 12 and 13; the top fold 64 may be secured by a staple 46 and one end of a string 43 having a tag 59 at the other end, thereof, may be secured under the staple and thereafter tied to form a knot 52 around the staple, or, in some instances, the string may be secured under the staple without tying aknot. The top fold 44 may be fastenedas illustrated in Figs. 14 and in which a string closure 54 is formed by threading the string through the bag under the lower edge of the fold 44 and around the top of the fold to form two loops around the fold,

as clearly shown in Fig. 15, The tag attaching and fold securing means shown in Fig. 16 comprise a string threaded through the fold and then provided with a knot 56 and the string thereafter is pulled up to bring the knot against the fold.

Another modification in the formation of a top closure for the bag is illustrated in Fig. 17 and comprises securing the top edges of the bag togetherafter the trimming operation by a series of stitches 6E1. This may be accomplished by running the bag past a sewing head of well-known construction, the latter being adapted to form a continuous length of the thread 62 of chainlike structure running from the sewed bag and.

in like manner by the continuous length of,

thread. This method of forming the top closure lends itself to high speed production on a machine and the preliminary step of folding over the top of the bag may be eliminated and in practice the top of the bag may be trimmed prior to the stitching operation.

Fig. 17 illustrates a further modification in the construction of the bag itself, apart from any particular closure 'means, in that it illustrates a manner in which the bag can be additionally folded medially of its bottom wall to permit further and substantially complete collapse of the bag. Bags folded and collapsed in accordance with the disclosure of Fig. 17, obviously can be packed in even less space than that required for the other forms of bags disclosed herein when the bottom portion thereof is left flat.

From the description thus far it will be observed that the present tea or cofiee bag presents an attractive, neat appearance and that its tucked in narrow end walls enable the bag to be flattened so as to occupy minimum space. In this manner bags may be conveniently packed for shipment, and when used the expansible structure of the bag affords space for the expanding tea leaves. The mouth of the bag with the overlapping corner flaps provides a multi-layer structure at the top or mouth of the bag to thereby enable the handle to be satisfactorily secured thereto with minimum liability of being pulled out or detached even when soft porous papers are employed in the construction of the bag. By inserting the fastening means through the overlapped portions of the folded down corner flaps, the flaps are held in their folded positions.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been herein illustrated and described, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other forms within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A tea receptacle comprising: a porous paper bag adapted to receive a quantity of tea therein, said bag being formed of a single folded sheet having a narrow elongated bottom portion, two relativel wide side walls and two relatively narrow end walls, an edge of each of said end and side walls being connected to a common corner flap, said corner flaps being triangular in shape with two of said flaps disposed in overlapping relation upon the side walls with their hypotenuses intersecting but leaving a substantial area of the side walls exposed below the overlapping portions of said flaps, each of said narrow end walls extending inwardly from the side edges of the adjacent side walls for the full height of said side walls and having a straight, continuous fold medially thereof to enable the confronting portions of the end walls to be folded upon each other and to allow the side walls of the bag to be compressed into close relationship to facilitate packing of the bag and to provide for expansion during the brewing operation, and fastening means for the mouth of the bag extending through the corner flaps and side walls to close said mouth and hold said flaps in their folded positions.

2. A tea receptacle comprising: a porous paper bag adapted to receive a quantity of tea therein, said bag being formed of a single folded sheet having a narrow elongated bottom portion, two relatively wide side walls and two relatively narrow end walls, an edge of each of said end and side walls being connected to a common corner flap, said corner flaps being triangular in shape with two of said flaps disposed in overlapping relation upon the side walls leaving a substantial area of said side walls exposed below said overlapping portions of the flaps, each of said narrow end walls extending inwardly from the side edges of the adjacent side walls for the full height of said side walls and having a straight, continuous fold medially thereof to enable the confronting portions of the end walls to be folded upon each other and to allow the side walls of the bag to be compressed into close relationship to facilitate packing of the bagand to provide for expansion during the brewing operation, the top comers of the bag being folded in operlapping relation to one of the sides and the remainder of the top of the bag being folded over upon the folded-down corners on the same side of said bag, and fastening means extending through the several layers of paper forming the closed top of the bag.

3. A tea receptacle comprising: a porous paper bag adapted to receive a quantity of tea therein, said bag being formed of a single folded sheet having a narrow elongated bottom portion, two relatively wide side walls and two relatively narrow end walls, an edge of each of said end and side walls being connected to a common corner flap, said corner flaps being triangular in shape with two of the flaps disposed in overlapping relation upon the side walls with their hypotenuses intersecting but leaving a substantial area of the side walls exposed below the overlapping portions of said flaps, each of said narrow end walls extending inwardly from the side edges of the adjacent side walls for the full height of said side walls and having a straight, continuous fold medially thereof to enable the confronting portions of the end walls to be folded upon each other and to allow the side walls of the bag to be compressed into close relationship, and said bottom portion being arranged to be folded medially of the side walls to permit collapsing thereof, whereby the collapsing of said side and bottom walls facilitates packing of the bag and provides for expansion during the brewing operation, and fastening means for the mouth of the bag extending through the corner flaps and side walls to close said mouth and hold said flaps in their folded positions.

LEWIS B. EATON. 

